Bo cai!
I can never think of a good subject line... hence why it says "Spinach!" in Chinese.
I am now pretty much settled in here in Shanghai. We finally got the internet in our dorm room, though its only one line for the two of us to share. I figured I would update a bit while I had the chance.
School has been going well. Monday we had our Chinese Language class. The professor is great! We all love her! She is really funny and we are learning much faster and much better than we ever did back at RPI. Her tactics are very kindergarten, but they work! As a result I've gotten a little more adventurous when it comes to speaking it. I whip out my dictionary and attempt to order food or talk to the shopkeepers and such. Usually they just laugh, but sometimes they understand. Even if they don't understand, I'm sure they enjoy laughing at us.
Speaking of food, I am sure all of my loyal readers want to know what the heck I am eating here. I can't say I've tried anything too adventurous due to my lack of meat eating, but I have done my fair share of trying new foods.
-To-fu.... of many varieties, sometimes called bean-curd, which sounds very appetizing! My favorites so far have been crispy fried tofu and sweet tofu. I really regret ever trying the stinky tofu though. In homage to this to-fu eating I even bought a shirt about to-fu. I love it.
-Other soy bean goodness- such as soy milk, every variety of fake 'meat', soy noodles, and these weird things that look like lettuce but are really soy.
-Eggs, usually mixed with tomatoes or just fried or put into my new favorite meal to find on campus, what I call the 'Chinese burrito". It's made with super sticky rice and stuffed with whatever you want, then rolled. Its sorta like sushi without the seaweed but the size of a burrito. I don't know how it holds it shape so well, but it 'stasty, nutritious and super cheap, only 3.75 yuan, or less than 50 cents!
-Rice... what can I say, when I can't find anything else I just fill up on rice. It's the cheapest thing and the only safe thing to eat in the cafeteria.
-Broccoli, chinese spinach, snow peas, kale, bok choi, lettuce, baby corn, carrots, bean sprouts, onions, and who knows what other vegetables.
-Lotus Root- this is absolutely amazingly tasty. I was really afraid to eat it, but it's sooo good! I have only had it once, but hope to find it at other restaurants. This will be something I shall miss in America.
-Lots of mushrooms... I never know what they are. Sometimes they are skinny and chewy, others fat and sort of meaty, and some remind me of seaweed, but somehow I enjoy them all, well except for one particular fungi I've encountered that I think I am having an allergic or hallucinogenic reaction to. My body gets numb, starting at my right arm, then spreading to my other limbs until my whole body feels numb. Then my pupils dialate like crazy and it hurts to look at anything, especially light. Then my face starts to feel both numb and very heavy, like I cannot support my jaw. Then I get a super intense headache and get rather warm. Then it all goes away in a matter of a few minutes.
-Black Sesame filled dumplings. OMG.... soo amazingly delicious. They are sweet and fried and chewy and gooey and delicious. I crave them everyday.
-Mangoes and Banana- of the fresh and the dried variety... as well as Pineapple, Orange, and Grapefruit juices. I ate a lot of kiwi and strawberries and grapes in HK, but they don't seem to have them here. Oh yeah, I also get oranges, watermelon, and apples... which I used to hate, but when they cut them up into little birds and crazy shapes I cannot resist eating them!
-I know there is more but all I can think of now are the desserts and snacks... which I unfortunately eat a lot of because I get a little bored here not knowing what to do a lot of the time when we have breaks. I ate a lot of pastries in HK, my favorite was the cream horn, but the bakeries aren't as good here. I've tried eating some random snacks, which were disgusting at first, but then after eating them I became addicted. I think they add addictive agents to their not so tasty foods. I've had wife cakes, sweet corn puffs and egg rolls. I have also become a big fan of Oreos, not that I wasn't before. Tea has become another major part of my diet, even though I detested it in America.
-Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches- my life savers!
Ok, enough about food, back to classes.
So language was cool and studio was non existent on Monday, so I think we went to a market after class. The market was crazy... I bought way too much! I spent very little money though, so it is ok. I couldn't control myself. Bargaining is just such a fun game for me! I love having the salesperson ask for $180 and then taking them down to $15. (This is in Yuan by the way, which has a conversion of 8.25 to 1USD) I bought a pair of brown and orange Pumas, green and black Diesel sneakers, a pashmina scarf, warm gloves, jewelry, a sweater, tights, leg warmers (because they are silly and I want to dress like a crazy Asian while I can still sorta pull it off), and some other random items to be given as gifts/souvenirs, etc.
Ok, again back to school. Can you tell we don't do much schooling here? Atleast not yet, it will kick in eventually. Tuesday we had our Chinese Architecture and Urbanism course, which consisted of a guest lecturer and then a seminar with our Prof from America. The lecturer was really interesting. He spoke no English but our TA, Shanshan, translated it all! I found it really interesting maybe just because I had so little a basis of knowledge on what he spoke about, so everything was new and fascinating. It was about Chinese Plastic Arts, their characteristics, use of color, and time periods/movements in art. I found his discussion on strong men in sculpture quite funny, as he compared this huge, muscle-bound Greek statue to this funny little Chinese warrior who looked fat and was smirking. I guess that fatness means he is filled with air and pumped up and ready to fight. Its all about qi! He showed us also a comparison of paintings of Qing Dynasty Emperors, where each got successively less air-filled and smaller and weaker, a clear sign the dynasty would fail. I also found of interest how much their art was effected by the government.
Now that I bored you all, I will continue on that path to say that today I attended language again and then Calligraphy! It is really relaxing but really impossible! I hope I don't fail it. Tomorrow is our first day of studio, which starts at 8 am! We shall be given our project and taken on a site visit and then off on our own to explore the city more and visit some architects. We would normally then have painting class, but it won't start until next week. So less work for me and more time to go do fun things! I shall continue to shop, go out to eat, make the locals laugh at me, explore the city, and such. I feel I won't be updated for a while because I wrote way too much this time. Oh well!
Zai Jian!
(or Zei Wei if you are Shanghainese)
-Sarah